Kev Rowland Released at the beginning of 2022, this is the final album to feature singer Reverend Jeyzus, who has since been replaced by Chronic Procrastinator , with the rest of the line-up being guitarist Piton, drummer Melissa Rable and bassist Kaptain. I have known Piton for some years now, and have always enjoyed his different bands, and there is something about Ygodeh which is uncompromising, metallic, brutal, electronic, industrial and steampunk, all at the same time. This is music which is twisted, dark and uncompromising, belonging only in the dark places and the shadows and never out in the light. That it is also strangely commercial at times only adds to the feeling of not belonging, and why “Scapegoat” reminds me of Geoff Mann and Twelfth Night is possibly due more to my warped synapses than any intention on the band’s part.

They may have come from a death metal background, and there are still some elements of that in what they are performing, this album has much more of a synth background, with melodies being twisted out of the keyboards, the rhythm section keeping it tight and the guitars coming in and out for effect. Reverend Jeyzus switches between speaking, singing melodically and growling manically as the band perform music for the post-apocalyptic age. Harsh but perfectly in tune with the times, Ygodeh have produced yet another album which is truly worthy of close investigation. With a female singer now onboard it is going to be interesting to see what the future is going to be like for this band, but there is no doubt it will be interesting and uncompromising.

SilentScream213 You can get an idea for what this album is about based on the name and album cover. Well, probably, I don’t actually know – the lyrics are impossible to find and entirely indiscernible, but the track titles all check out. The electronic drums give this thing a unique flavor (for its time) and the guitars are actually pretty slow and groovy despite the blast beating drums.

This release is definitely influenced by the Japanese Ero Guro Nansensu movement (erotic grotesque nonsense), which is a really interesting artistic phenomenon that was about exactly as it says. It started back in the first half of the 20th century and for some reason has endured in Japanese art and pop culture up to the modern day (that’s why you see so much gratuitous violence in even mainstream anime). You can bet when Japan caught wind of goregrind and pornogrind, this immediately fit the bill, and was taken to more bizarre extremes with innovative bands like this one pushing the genre further.

Other than all that though, it’s not that great of an album. The vocals are horrible, and the guitars are quite mundane. It’s more fun for the novelty of it. It’s not Cybergrind in itself either, but likely had an influence on the development of the genre, especially seeing as this was easily the biggest Grindcore album to come from Asia at the time.

UMUR "Agoraphobic Nosebleed" is an EP release by US grindcore act Agoraphobic Nosebleed. The EP was released through Bovine Records in 1996 and is a re-release of the band´s 30 song demo from 1995. It´s the band´s first label release. Agoraphobic Nosebleed was formed in 1994 in Springfield, Massachusetts and at that point it was a one-man project featuring Scott Hull (guitars, programming). The vocals on the EP are delivered by various vocalists.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed are often referred to as a drum-machine grindcore band, as a consequence of the drums being programmed. That´s just one of the components which make up their sound though, and often people focus way too much on that feature when describing the music. So let´s get it out of the way. Yes the drums are programmed and no it´s not that apparent as Hull is a skilled programmer, and the drums are produced in a way where they sound relatively "normal".

Stylistically the music on the 30 track EP is aggressive and fast grindcore with raw distorted shouting vocals. Often the tracks are only a few seconds or maybe half a minute long, and it´s a release that is best enjoyed in full instead of track by track. It´s a relatively one-dimensional release but you´re still kept on your toes throughout the playing time as a consequence of the short bursts of insane brutality and raw aggression. The few times the pace is slowed down a bit, it feels like welcome breathers, but those moments are few and far between. The lyrics are typically sparse and often repeated words instead of longer meaningful sentences, but you´ll get an idea of what they are about from songtitles like "Eyes Like Two Pissholes in the Snow", "Fucking Move, Prick", and "If You Thought Elvis Was Good Live (Wait 'Til You See Him Dead)". These guys are pissed, but still deliver their message with a bizarre gleam in the eye.

The sound production is decent for the genre, and suits the music well. Raw, unpolished, and "In Your Face" like it´s supposed to sound. Overall it´s not the most exciting or original sounding grindcore release out there, but it´s obvious there´s some thought and talent behind the compositions and that counts for something. A bit more variation and more compositions which last for more than a few seconds could also have been nice, but as it is, the EP is still an interesting listen, and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

siLLy puPPy UNICORN HOLE - Definition : Not so different than one's corn hole, only referring to a Unicorn's corn hole. Spewing rainbows & other fantasy type%^ish.

Grindcore and South Park worship with electronic embellishments all under one roof!

Cybergrind anybody? UNICORN HOLE has some of the best!

20 fucking awesome examples of immaturity jetting by in less than 10 minutes!

Screamed vocals, grind^core metal freneticism fucking with you mind!

ELECTRONIC wankery in full effect!

Song titles that take longer to read than track lengths!

From South Carolina, so hurricane strength intensity!

Chiptune? Metalcore? Grindcore? Me not know :o

Summary:

This is basically a declaration of not giving a flying fuck.

This core designed album is about giving the middle finger to everythoing.

Fuck conventions, even metal ones.

Electronic based grindcore with dripping attitude.

Not too bad really.

Definitely a rainbow killer.

Mission accomplished.

Fuck yeah.

Blip.

:/

Vim Fuego You know what? I was going to try to review “Dirt” by Alice In Chains, but I can’t. I can’t give it an objective review in any way, shape or form. I tried to listen to it for the first time the other day, got thoroughly bored with it, so I stopped.

Age and attitude has a lot to do with it. Alice In Chains was supposed to be the more metal side of the grunge movement, but I’m too old and cynical to buy into the teen angst it embodied. Even when I was a teenager I had more important things to do than to wallow in self-pity, like working to help keep the family farm afloat, while getting myself an education so I wouldn’t be trapped trying to scratch a living from the land. Yes, “Dirt” is meant to follow the emotional descent of someone falling into the clutches of an eventually fatal heroin habit, but that world, and those emotions, are alien to me. While I understand mental illness and depression, I just don’t get self-pity and addiction.

“Dirt” may have been exotic and fresh when it was first recorded in 1992, but a quarter of a century has been unkind. What little of the music I do recall sounded flat and dull. Perhaps it is the radio-friendly imitators and mimics which have spoiled Alice In Chains’ aura, or perhaps it is rose-tinted spectacles which keep this album held in such a high regard. Whatever it is, I didn’t like it enough to listen to it all the way through, and you can’t give half an album a fair review.

Just as I was considering something drastic, like mowing the lawn or doing the dishes because they were more interesting than “Dirt”, this little gem popped up on YouTube. “The Black EP” by Grinder is essentially the antithesis of “Dirt”. It is short, sharp, and silly. What could be less serious than coffee-themed grindcore with a real, genuine grinder on vocals? Yes, Grinder’s vocalist is a coffee grinder.

For anyone outside the grindcore sphere of influence, this may sound utterly inane and childish. Perhaps it is. However, jump online and check out even just a handful of grindcore demos and the thing which strikes you almost immediately is how atrociously recorded the vocals are. Grunts, groans, shrieks, growls, and even screams can end up sounding like a gurgling drain or a boiling kettle. It seems to be a hard task to keep already tortured vocals anywhere near intelligible when all other instruments around are raging at, for want of a better expression, full noise.

So Grinder offers nothing but a fun gimmick. The song titles are completely meaningless because the vocals are nothing but the sound of coffee beans having the caffeine powdered out of them, and possibly the resulting beverage percolating in the fires of hell. The music itself though is well above average for this style of release. There is the obligatory insane drum programming, set to an inhuman tempo, overlaid with crushing guitar and bass noise. There’s a couple of funny coffee-related samples, and song titles like “Beans of Prey” and “Hot Water Death Bath”.

What does it all mean? Fuck all. Why listen to it? Pure escapism. Is it better than Alice In Chains’ “Dirt”? I think so. Will anyone else? Probably not, but fuck ‘em. They can write their own review.